Another criminal sentencing bill is making its way through the North Carolina General Assembly. The bill focuses on individuals with severe mental disabilities who plead guilty to or are convicted of first-degree murder. Having passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, the measure, House Bill 659, moved to a Senate committee earlier this week Continue Reading Bill Would Take Death Penalty off Table for Mentally Disabled

Durham police arrested the purported leader of a religious cult this week after finding the remains of a 5-year-old boy buried in the back yard of a house in East Durham. A day earlier, investigators had found a woman’s body there as well. The 27-year-old leader of the group has been charged with first-degree murder Continue Reading Durham Police Charge Leader and Members of Cult with Murder

Highway patrol officers were called to two accident sites in Wake County this weekend that will change the lives of a few families forever. Officers and arrest reports attributed the first accident to driving while impaired and the second to excessive speed. The first accident occurred Saturday night on N.C. 96. The 32-year-old driver crossed Continue Reading Wake County Crashes Keep Officers Busy over the Weekend

Summer in North Carolina has come to mean sobriety and safety checkpoints — on land and on water. This year, a group of state law enforcement agencies and anti-drunk driving activists have teamed up to sponsor “On the Road, On the Water, Don’t Drink and Drive.” The campaign involves checkpoints and more patrols in heavy Continue Reading Critics Say Checkpoints Are More About Revenue Than Safety

This is the last post in our series about the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. The state agency was established to help felons prove their factual innocence. The association representing the state’s district attorneys has lobbied for changes to the way the commission operates. The proposed changes, now before the General Assembly, would move the Continue Reading Innocence Commission: Saving Lives, Under Fire, Concl.